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Three-story house to leave East Side for South Providence

A blue and gray triple-decker apartment house will be relocated from the East Side to its new location in South Providence beginning at daybreak Sunday, Sept. 26, 1999. Traveling at 2 miles per hour, the journey will take an estimated 12 to 14 hours to complete.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A 57-ton, three-story apartment house will make a day-long move from its current East Side location to a new site South Providence. The blue and gray triple-decker will travel from 55 Charlesfield St. to 496 Public St., where it will become a new home for Providence families. The journey is set to start at daybreak Sunday, Sept. 26, 1999, and will take an estimated 12 to 14 hours to complete.

Once scheduled for demolition to make room for the new Watson Institute for International Studies building, the house was sold to Omni Development Group, an affordable housing provider and developer. Omni, with the assistance of councilwoman Balbina Young and local housing consultant Jerry Erlich, are coordinating the move and eventual sale to a low-to moderate-income family.

Traveling at 2 miles per hour with crews from Bell Atlantic, Narragansett Electric, Cox Cable and the City of Providence lowering or unhooking utility lines along the way, the house will travel from Charlesfield Street to Hope Street to George M. Cohan Boulevard. It will then travel from Brook Street to Alves Ways to Traverse Street, and then down Wickenden Street to South Main Street. The house will move through downtown Providence along Steeple Street, Memorial Boulevard and Sabin Street. From there, it travels across Interstate-95 at Service Road 7, and enters South Providence at Westminster Street. The last leg of the journey will take the house from Cahir Street to Broad Street and then to its final destination on Public Street.